


Adjustments

by afteriwake



Series: Lingering Winter [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 11:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo goes to check up on Nelliel and see how she's adjusting to being in Soul Society.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adjustments

**Author's Note:**

> This all stemmed from the idea of Neliel and Yachiru playing tag, I kid you not. And Kyoraku’s first line was suggested by my friend **thiscanbegin**.

“What’s going on with the Arrancar?” Ichigo asked Rukia and Renji on his second day back in Soul Society. His entire family had come to Soul Society, including his sisters, and he was taking a break from the reunion to check in on the shinigami.

“Grimmjow is…well, Captain Kenpachi wants him to join 11th squad,” Rukia said slowly.

“What?!? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” Ichigo’s eyes were wide. “Did it matter to anybody that he tried to _kill_ me? More than once?”

“We remember,” Renji said with a smirk. “Unohana’s trying to keep them where we can keep an eye on them and they can begin to change. Now that Aizen’s gone, a few of them have agreed and people are finding places for them.”

“What about Nel?” Ichigo asked.

“She’s with the 8th squad now,” Rukia said. “She’s still not remembering going back to her adult form and saving you, not completely. This time, Pesche and Dondochakka aren’t trying to stop her from remembering her old life.”

“That’s good.”

“She’s been asking for you,” Renji said. “And it’s driving the rest of us nuts.”

“Then maybe we should go pay them a visit,” he said with a grin. As annoying as Nel could be sometimes, she had saved his life, and he was grateful for it.

\--

“Just think, Nanao-chan, we have a little girl and we didn’t even have to get her the fun way.”

Nanao got a very angry look on her face, and instinctively Rukia, Renji and Ichigo stopped in their tracks even though they were still a few feet away. Nanao was about to say something when Nel tugged on her robes. “Yes?” she asked, her voice slightly strained.

“Want me to hit him?” she asked.

Nanao looked at her and sighed. “No, I suppose not.” Then she grinned. “I’ll just hide his sake. Then he’ll learn not to make comments like that in front of you.”

Kyoraku got a pained look on his face. “Not the sake.”

“You need to learn to be less of a pervert,” Nanao said, pushing her glasses up her nose a little more. Then she looked up and saw the three people once again walking towards them. “Ah. Neliel, it appears you have a guest.”

The little girl turned and a smile lit up her face. “Ichigo!”

He gave her a grin as they got closer. “Hey, Nel.”

“You came to see me!” She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his leg. He looked down and, not knowing what else to do, patted her head. She looked up and he saw that her grin was larger. He also noticed that she was wearing shinigami robes instead of the green clothing she’d been wearing in Hueco Mundo.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “How are you doing?”

“Pretty good. I like the people here, especially the pink haired girl. And Nanao-chan even reads to me,” she replied, letting go of his leg and pointing to Nanao. “How come you’re not here?”

“I don’t live here,” he said. “I live somewhere else, in the living world.”

She looked surprised. “I thought you were a _real_ Soul Reaper.”

“When we met I told you I was a _Deputy_ Soul Reaper,” he pointed out.

“Oh,” she said sadly.

“But I do come visit,” he said.

“Oh!” she said, a smile returning to her face. “So you’ll come see me?”

“When I can, yeah,” he said with a nod. 

“I’ll have to tell Pesche and Dondochakka,” she said. “They’ll be happy ‘cause I’ll be happy.”

“They removed their masks again,” Nanao said to Ichigo. “I don’t think you’ll quite recognize them when you see them. They look very human.”

“I’ll go get them,” Nel said, moving away from Ichigo.

“No need,” Kyoraku said, pointing to behind Ichigo. “Here they come.”

Ichigo turned and saw two figures in shinigami robes approaching. They had the same general shape that he remembered, but Pesche had long blonde hair and an eyepatch over his right eye, and Dondochakka had short black hair. He found that when he looked at them he could still remember how they looked in Hueco Mundo, but actually preferred this look more.

“Neliel!” Pesche called out. And then he looked at the people next to her. “Ichigo, is that you?”

Ichigo nodded. “Yeah.”

“He came to visit me,” Nel said with a smile. “And he said he’ll visit more.” Then she looked at him. “I can’t play Eternal Tag here, but do you wanna play regular tag?”

He looked at her for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, Nel. We can play tag.”

She reached over and slammed her fist into his leg. Ichigo winced and went down on one knee. “Tag!” she said with a giggle, and then she went off running.

“I keep forgetting she’s still strong in that form,” Ichigo said, getting back up and rubbing his leg slightly.

“She’s befriended very few of the shinigami here,” Nanao said. “She seems to like myself and Captain Kyoraku enough, but she’s _really_ become friendly with Lieutenant Kusajishi. I think it helps that they’re both similar ages.” She paused. “Or at least Neliel is now. I don’t know how we’ll explain things if Neliel regains her memories and becomes an adult again.”

“Yachiru-chan is a smart girl,” Kyoraku said. “And who knows? Perhaps Neliel would be more content to remain a child.”

“You call her by her first name,” Rukia noted.

“She asked us to,” Nanao said. “I admit it is unusual for me to be so informal with someone I do not know very well, but if it makes her transition here easier, I shall call her whatever she wishes.”

“Yachiru-chan simply calls her Mask Head,” Kyoraku said with a laugh. “She’s trying to get Neliel into the habit of calling everyone by nicknames. It’s not working quite as well as our young Lieutenant hoped, though she calls Yachiru-chan Pink Head, at her request.”

Ichigo grinned. “Well, guess I should get going chasing her,” he said.

“MASK HEAD!” All eyes were turned to the little girl bouncing up to them. “Where’s Mask Head? We’re gonna go get some candy from Byakkun.”

“She’s playing tag with her visitor,” Nanao said.

Yachiru looked up at Ichigo. “Can I play too?”

He shrugged slightly. “Sure, why not?”

“Let’s go find Mask Head!” Yachiru said with a laugh, looking around and then racing in one direction after spotting her new friend.

“I think you’ll get quite the workout,” Renji said with a smirk. “Lieutenant Kusajishi is one of the fastest people around. She digs divots out of stone pavement.”

Ichigo looked at them and then sighed. “Great. Well, off I go.” And with that, Ichigo took off after the two girls.

“Is she really fitting in here, Captain Kyoraku?” Rukia asked.

“Shinigami still scare her,” he said. “But Nanao-chan has taken it upon herself to make our Division as child friendly as it was when she was a girl.”

“Only _this_ time I’ll make sure you’re less…perverse,” Nanao said, finishing the sentence weakly.

“Now, when was I ever perverse to you as a child?” he replied, feigning a hurt look. “I was only perverse to Lisa-chan, and some of the other _older_ girls. I like to tease, but I wouldn’t be that way around a child, even if she’s simply the child form of an adult. I get the feeling that Neliel is very childlike in her adult state. Am I right?” he asked Dondochakka and Pesche.

“She’s not childlike, so much as…” Dondochakka started.

“A little naïve and a little too trusting,” Pesche finished. “Though I don’t know how her dealings with Nnoitra will have changed that. We didn’t get the chance to see her in her old form again, so until she goes back…”

Kyoraku nodded. “I see. Well, we can only hope for the best in this situation, now can’t we?” There was a loud crash and everyone turned to see Ichigo getting pummeled by two little girls trying to tag each other. “I think someone should rescue Kurosaki-san now.”

“Hey! Kids!” Renji shouted in their general direction. The two girls stopped what they were doing and looked at him. “Didn’t you have plans to get candy?”

“That’s right!” Yachiru said, clapping her hands together. “We should go visit Byakkun and get some candy.”

“Are you sure?” Nel asked, just a little nervously. “He doesn’t like me.”

“I’ll bug him until he gives me some. You just do what I do, Mask Head.” 

“Okay,” Nel said with a nod. “Pesche! Dondochakka! I’m gonna go with Pink Head.”

“Have fun,” Pesche said, and with that the two girls took off and Ichigo hobbled back over to them. “Are you okay?”

“Never playing tag with them again,” he grumbled.

“Perhaps you should go pay a visit to the 4th Division relief station?” Rukia said.

“Nah, I’ll live,” he said. He looked at Rukia and Renji. “I guess we should get going. I have to get back to the Shiba residence soon, and I wanted to say thank you to a few people while I was here.”

“Very well then,” Kyoraku said with a nod. “But please, come by and visit Neliel often. It might help her get used to things here more easily.”

“I’ll come by every time I’m here,” Ichigo said with a nod. “She may not remember it, but she saved my life. I owe her.” He paused. “Take good care of her?”

“We will,” Pesche and Dondochakka chorused.

With that, Ichigo, Renji and Rukia left the 8th Division barracks. “It’s good that she’s doing okay,” Ichigo said with a nod. “I was kinda worried about what might happen if she got left in Hueco Mundo.”

“I think Nel-chan will be just fine,” Rukia said with a smile. “Now, where to next?”

“Anywhere but the 11th Division. I’m not in the mood to run into Grimmjow today,” he replied. “If Ikkaku and Yumichika want to talk to me we’re doing it somewhere else.”

Renji laughed. “This is really going to tick you off for a while, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Ichigo said. “It’s really going to tick me off.”

Rukia smiled. “It could be worse. He could have been entrusted to Urahara-san.”

Ichigo looked at her. “Don’t even joke like that.”

She laughed quietly. “Then I won’t…for now.”

He shook his head. “Let’s head over to see Rangiku-san.”

The others nodded. “Sounds good to me,” Renji said.

“Good. Then let’s head over there before my luck runs out,” Ichigo said. “Like I said, I don’t want to run into Grimmjow.”

He walked slightly ahead of the two of them, and Rukia leaned over to Renji. “Perhaps we should tell him that Grimmjow hasn’t yet accepted the offer to stay with 11th Division? And is still healing at the 4th Division relief station?”

Renji shook his head and gave her an evil smirk. “No, this way is more fun.”

“You’re evil, Renji,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh yeah, I know I am,” he said. “And I’m okay with that.”

“Will you two hurry up!” Ichigo called back to them.

“Yeah, yeah,” Renji said. “Stop walking so fast.” He went to go catch up to Ichigo, with Rukia right behind him, and they continued on their way as the afternoon wore on.


End file.
